Sweet Pencil, a hopeful freelance/business started by myself, Amanda Appiarius, is now in the works. The idea to do what I love and mold it into something that might earn money only just occurred to me this winter. Well, that’s a lie – I’ve thought about selling art before, but a real incentive to just get out there and actually do it floated to me at work one day like the pattern on a quail feather : colorful, complicated and intricately beautiful. The only thing is, I need to sort it out and pull all of my ideas together into a cohesive selling point as well as an idea that communicates what I have to offer.
There is no “recipe” for this. There are blogs and articles online for freelancers to read. There are sites like etsy and deviantart that provide a way to sell artwork online. There is word of mouth. There is the website, the business card, the connections, and plenty of other ingredients to facilitate a freelancer’s opportunities. The recipe though, that’s up to me. I’m in the process of deciding what I need, where I want to take this, and who I want to direct my “business” toward.
Right now I know that I love doing personalized illustrations. Portraits done realistically or in fun, funky, cartoon styles, animals illustrated with line work or shapes, expressions exaggerated and stylized – the bottom line is, I love drawing people and animals. I also enjoy creating more than what is there. My Mom asked me to draw her guardian angel for her and I came up with a rendering of a young woman with wings, a bicycle necklace, a bee laden crown, and a flowing gown that I thought suited her angel just right. Of course my Mom loved it, but that’s because she’s my Mom. That doesn’t change the fact that I relished in taking an idea, a person, or a flickering thought and drawing it into something fun to look at as a piece of art and a meaningful representation.
Whether I do animal or people portraits or whether I illustrate a quote or an idea- I always get a thrill out of investing detail and thought into a piece that someone will hopefully cherish because it reminds them of parts of their life, their families, their friends, or even their loyal four legged companions.
Tell me to illustrate a favorite quote, your pet, your children, your loved one surrounded by their favorite flowers, your Grandpa on his worn out lazy chair, the porch swing with you and your grandchildren on it, your angel, yourself in a dream car, characters from your favorite book, a scene from a past vacation, or anything else you might fancy, whether feminine or masculine, and I’d love to oblige -
but not until I whip up the perfect freelance recipe for myself.
Hopefully I will have sweetpencil.com in the oven soon, ready to be served in the fall.
